This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, Fuhsi Ling, 83, born on February 4, 1933 and passed away on September 24, 2016. We invite you to share your memories of her as we share our cherished remembrences of her with you.
Tributes
Leave a tributeA belated happy birthday to you in this Year of the Dragon, and a moment of celebration and remembrance for the many things you brought to all of our lives, from your tenacity and drive to the joy you expressed through singing and ballroom dancing. I am so glad you lived long enough to see me finally on my way as a film director, even if neither you nor Dad got to see the finished product. It has been a challenging time since you left us, but I continue to take the lessons of your life to heart as I move forward through this increasingly crazy world…
With much love and gratitude from both Casey and me,
V
Sam and Bee-De
Things have changed in our family and I forgot to let you know. Ken left us early last November after a short stay in the hospital of infection from his dialysis. He was very lucky that his suffering was relatively short. He was physically pretty active until the very end.
Even almost seven years after your passing, your lessons and influence still guide me each day in a world that keeps growing further and further apart from the one we grew up in, and the one you knew. But you taught me to persevere, to fight on, and to keep dancing through.
Love you Mom, and Happy Mother's Day 2023
A remembrance on Memorial Day 2022 for you both. Your memory lives on in all the lives you touched and made better. Mom, your passion and love of creative arts persevere in me; Dad, your sense of humor and your love of history and technology do likewise. Even as distinct individuals, Leona and I will always represent the many diverse characteristics --analysis and imagination, research and artistry, exploration and storytelling-- that were gifts from you.
I love and miss you both,
V
Van
With Love, Leona
Happy Mother’s Day, from a world that has certainly changed a lot since you took leave of it almost five years ago. But we persevere, and so does your memory. You still dance in our hearts.
Van
We will always cherish the happy memories of our time together and do continue to dance with the angels. Rest In Peace.... Sam and Bee-De
V
Dear Fuhsi,
I cannot believe four years have passed since you left us. How did the time go? I still remember the time vividly I spent with you and treasured what I learned from you. Your children's achievements in their field is a living proof of your advance thinking of the time. I admire your strength, creativity and your perseverance. What a role model you are!
In our last phone conversation just a few years ago, you warmed my heart recalling your friendship with my parents, both deceased. Your friendship dated back to the 1950s, if not even earlier. Your father loved my father and they shared a tragic ending which bonded our families forever.
Thank you for reaching out and wishing to visit me in San Diego after my mother's passing in 2015.
Your leaving us soon afterwards was a shock。 I was comforted to have attended your lovely memorial service. Your children did a wonderful job to honor you. With this website, they continue to remember you with gratitude.
It is my regret that I did not make an effort to visit you over the years, even though you graciously understood my busy life through our annual Christmas newsletters.
My younger brother Victor Pei (with whom you shared an architectural common ground), sadly passed this year at the age of 65 from Covid 19 in New York City, the epicenter of the global epidemic earlier this spring.
I retired in 2018 . It heightened my need to make an entry here and make an effort to connect with my parents' friends, and my father's relatives. We did have a memorable Pei family reunion in October 2019 in Suzhou. We also visited my maternal grandparents' hometown in Shantou. You would have been interested in these details.
I miss you.
Love,
Eva Pei-Srbich Leonard, MD
贝聿珠
V
Cheers to you, Mom!
I will always remember that heavy black metal Singer sewing machine she used (for over half a century!) as one of the hallmarks of my childhood. Looking back on her amazing life, I can see it as one of her outlets for creative expression and most importantly how it also ingrained in me the personal value of being able to create something with your own hands... a lesson I carry with me every day, even if it is sometimes only created on a computer.
Miss you, Mom.
V
Lyuba and Win
In 1954, they bought an old house in Haddonfield, NJ near my apartment. Fuhsi remodeled and made it a very attractive home. I had many warm wonderful weekends with the Tjian family.
In 1965 they relocated to Palos Verde, CA. Fuhsi designed a most attractive house, inside and out. Wonderful to live in a house designed
for one self.
I last saw her in Shanghai in 2014. Missed dancing with her.
C F Kwok.
Yi-Ming
Leave a Tribute
A belated happy birthday to you in this Year of the Dragon, and a moment of celebration and remembrance for the many things you brought to all of our lives, from your tenacity and drive to the joy you expressed through singing and ballroom dancing. I am so glad you lived long enough to see me finally on my way as a film director, even if neither you nor Dad got to see the finished product. It has been a challenging time since you left us, but I continue to take the lessons of your life to heart as I move forward through this increasingly crazy world…
With much love and gratitude from both Casey and me,
V
Please be patient.
A Granddaughter's Remembrances
Popo was the only grandmother I ever got to know. For those brief times I flew across the states to see her she always greeted me with warmth and enthusiasm...and food. Lots of food. She was a great influence on exposing me to Chinese cuisine and culture. She and I would fold wontons together with the sweet anticipation of wonton soup. She spoiled me with shrimp, spare ribs, red beans, and noodles. There was no hesitation when it came to making fun of me for, in my younger years, taking two slices of bread and stuffing corn in the middle to make a corn sandwich. I have no recollection of this event but I don't doubt it. Popo had a memory like an elephant.
As well as memory, we all know she never had a lack of words. At one point she was talking in the kitchen and I had stealthily slipped out of the room, seemingly unnoticed. As I retreated across the house I still heard her carrying on with the conversation as if I hadn't moved an inch. But, without her constant talk she wouldn't be Popo, and I enjoy the stories she tells of her past. She has gone through a much different world than I. Listening to her is like a glimpse into an alternate world which I found fascinating. Going through the war, living in China and Argentina, living in the time before cellphones, and being the oldest of more siblings than I would ever want is such a different way of life that I can hardly imagine it. She and her family were really the pioneers of their generation.
It is an honor to have known such a strong woman like Popo. All throughout her life she was a leader, kept to what she believed in, protected her family, worked hard to get by in this world and to have her children succeed in the best way possible. I am proud when I say my grandmother is an immigrant. I am proud when I say she was one of the first female students in MIT. I am proud when I say my grandmother was an elegant dancer, I can only dream of becoming a dancer like her. And I am proud to be the granddaughter of such a magnificent, talented, and resilient woman
A Grandson's Eulogy - Will Stevens
My grandmother was always a key role model in the family, and especially to me as her only grandson. I had never met my grandparents from the other side of the family so my only two grandparents are always very important to me. Fushi always did things her way and she got things done the way she wanted to. She did not let others or any circumstances keep her from doing what she wanted. Some may have criticized her for this way of thinking, but if you look at the kind of life she lived, you would have to be blind to think that she was not an extremely accomplished woman. She had survived the slaughter of the Second World War in China. She brought herself up to travel to the other side of the world to get one of the best educations in the world. She became one of the most talented dancers that many of us here have probably ever met. She and her husband raised two very successful children in an amazing home that she designed herself. This way of thinking is what got her to all those places.
Many of you may not know this but I always looked up to her because of this and she taught me that in order to successful in life you have to be aggressive, you have to be decisive, you have to be your own person. You can’t let others opinions keep you from accomplishing things that you want to do. She made the decision several years ago to go with us to Shanghai while in a wheelchair. Despite her lack of mobility and suggestions from others that she should not go she still made the decision to get on that plane. We helped her every step of the way, but it wasn’t any easier on her as it was for us. She wanted to see her family, her friends and where it all began again. If she didn’t go on that trip she would have passed without seeing any of those things. That's what we should all remember her for. She recognized life was short and she knew that life would continue to knock her down, but she stood up and told life that it hits like a bitch.
I have been dealing with life treating me like this lately with both college and the Marine Corps. But every time one of these frustrating situations happen, I do exactly what Fushi would have done. She made it clear that life doesn’t give any handouts, and if it does, they will never get you anywhere. You must bring yourself up, open the doors and don’t get upset about things that you could change by yourself. She was always there for us, the younger generation of the family, to teach us these things.
Days before her passing, I was in my dorm room late at night and my mother Facetimed me, I saw Fushi lying in her bed. I thanked her for all that she has done, and despite her extreme difficulty speaking, I could see that she was still fighting on. She stood her ground to the very end. I saw it. She didn’t even want me to come visit her the day before she died and insisted that I stick with school. I eventually came out here, but I was a day too late. She died the way she wanted to, in the house, in her house, the house she made and the house she made so many other things in. So don’t mourn her death. Celebrate her life!